


Wastrel - Diner Version

by cutsycat



Series: Dictionary.Com Word of the Day Drabbles [1154]
Category: NCIS
Genre: Alternate Universe - Diners, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-23
Updated: 2018-11-23
Packaged: 2019-08-28 04:16:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,467
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16716452
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cutsycat/pseuds/cutsycat
Summary: Tony runs a local diner with the help of Kate and Ziva. Gibbs is a regular customer and Ziva thinks Tony should marry her. Senior agrees. What happens when it all comes to a head?





	Wastrel - Diner Version

**Author's Note:**

> Another dictionary.com word of the day drabble. This time from 06/28/2002 for the word [wastrel](http://www.dictionary.com/wordoftheday/2002/06/28/wastrel).
> 
> wastrel  
> A person who wastes, especially one who squanders money; a spendthrift.  
> An idler; a loafer; a good-for-nothing.
> 
> This is for prompt #4 of the July 2018 Five Prompts Challenge located [here](https://ncis-discuss.livejournal.com/144822.html).

“Your father is at it, again.” Kate complained. 

“Did he hurt you?” Tony asked, concerned. Ziva liked the attention from his father he knew, but Kate was a bit more of a puritan and hated Senior’s tendency to touch anything female, especially if they’re pretty, in a raunchy way.

“No. Just tried to feel me up again!” Kate snarled.

“Did you slap him down?”

Kate nodded. “Just like you taught me.”

“Good girl.”

“What’s he ordered? I’ll take it out to him.” Tony knew Kate needed a break from Senior. He wished he could just send the wastrel away and tell him to never return to the diner again, but sadly no matter how annoying his behavior the man was still his only family. 

“His normal. Coffee and steak. Oh and your boyfriend is here.”

Tony shook his head. “He’s not my boyfriend.”

“Uh huh. That’s why you have a special just for him.”

Tony stuck his tongue out at Kate as he grabbed Senior’s steak and Gibbs’ steak. 

“Real mature.” 

The truth is if it weren’t for Senior, Tony would have already asked Gibbs out. He knew no one would want to date him with Senior always hanging around and his womanizing ways. So even though he got along well with Gibbs and Gibbs came around specifically during hours when it would be slower to spend time with him, he did nothing about his feelings for Gibbs.

“Leave Kate alone, dad.” Tony ordered softly as he set the coffee and steak in front of Senior. 

“I would if you’d just marry that lovely Ziva.”

Tony rolled his eyes. Senior was just too much most of the time. He’d told his dad multiple times that he liked guys and still Senior tried to get him to marry one of the women who worked for him. 

“I’m not interested in Ziva. She’s an employee. Nothing more.”

”When will you live up to your potential?” Senior sighed, disappointed.

Tony reigned his temper in. It wouldn’t look professional if he lost it at his father, no matter how good Senior was at pushing his buttons. Really, what more did Senior want?

Tony already gave him most meals for free since Senior never could keep his money around, always spending it on some new scheme to get rich and never making it. He even paid for Senior’s hotel room at times when Senior’s schemes failed so badly he couldn’t even afford the hotel room he’d booked for it. He hated it.

How could he ever be free enough to marry someone when he’d never be free from the lifesucking leech that was his father. Fortunately, the diner made enough that he could afford the free meals and the occasional hotel bill, but it really put a crimp in his dating life. 

Deciding to leave Senior alone, Tony moved over to Gibbs who always put a smile on his face. “Your cowboy steak and tar,” Tony announced, sliding into the booth across from Gibbs.

“You have the best tar around.” Gibbs grinned.

“Why thank you, kind sir.” Tony playfully bantered back. 

“How’s the special today?”

“Extraordinary as usual, too bad you don’t like the fru-fru stuff. How’s the boat?” Tony knew that Gibbs built a boat and he was endlessly fascinated by this having no time to devote to anything like that with the diner to run.

“Almost finished the hull. Still have a lot of sanding to do, though.”

”Still spending most of your days in the basement like a vampire, huh?”

“Most people like my bite.” Gibbs shrugged.

“I can’t wait to find out what it’s like myself.” Tony grinned, before standing up and waving. “I better get back to the kitchen.”

Ziva came in to handle the dinner rush, preferring the more crowded atmosphere when the men were all clamoring for her attention. Kate joined Tony in the back to push food out, but only after Ziva said hello by running a sharp fingernail from his neck to his chest. Tony knew Ziva would be happy to marry him like his father wanted, but he just wasn’t into her like that.

He brushed her hand away and sent her out to work her magic with the customers. The customers absolutely loved her. The women appreciated her no nonsense serving and the men loved her hard to get attitude.

He needed to hire another chef, so that he could take a day off, but he’d yet to find anyone that could do the job to the level that he wanted. He’d love to be able to visit Gibbs and watch him build his boat. Gibbs had even given him an open invitation to visit whenever. 

Gibbs had insisted that his door was always open, but Tony had never taken him up on it. Not for lack of wanting, but all due to lack of time. Between the diner and bailing out his father, he just didn’t have time for a personal life despite Kate’s ribbing about Gibbs.

The two men understood each other and got along well, but they never discussed their feelings. In fact, some days they would just sit in silence, mostly depending on Tony. Gibbs would let Tony chatter away or just sit in silence with him, whichever Tony needed that day.

Tony could also draw Gibbs into conversation if he wished and some days he did, but really it was all about what Tony chose to do that day. He loved that about Gibbs. Most people were demanding and wanted him to be paying attention to them and actively engaging in exciting conversation and having someone who would just be with him in whatever form he needed was amazing.

He wished that he was free to explore a deeper relationship with Jethro, but he loved the moments they shared now. Of course, nothing ever lasted and it all came to a head when Ziva and his father teamed up against him in an attempt to get him to marry Ziva. He didn’t know what his father wanted from this union, but he knew exactly what Ziva was after.

Her father was all about a marriage of convenience for the good of her family. From what he’d heard, her half brother Ari had been the one who was supposed to get married to carry on the family prosperity, but the family had not been able to stop his marriage to a male Russian friend, much to their dismay. So now all hopes were pinned on Ziva, who in front of her family displayed all the right behavior to make them think that she would be a good daughter and do what was best for the family.

Ziva didn’t want a marriage of convenience, though. She wanted a marriage of love. As such, she’d decided she wanted Tony since Tony was just wealthy enough that her father couldn’t complain about him too much, but the wrong side of the tracks enough that it would annoy everyone in her family.

Tony wasn’t interested in being her token protest boyfriend. He’d offered her a job to give her a safe place to be herself, a place free from her father’s influence, but that was all he was willing to do for her. He’d been preparing for dinner service in the kitchen when both Ziva and his father showed up to bombard him with their demands.

Naturally it devolved into yelling, especially on Ziva and his father’s part, but even Tony raised his voice when they refused to accept his quiet refusal. His father kept insisting that Tony needed to do this to save Senior’s life. Ziva kept insisting that he needed to stop playing coy and that she knew he really wanted her. 

Kate had taken one look at what was going on and waved bye to Tony, the traitor. Tony wasn’t sure if anyone was left to man the front anymore, but he wasn’t worried. It was the slow time of day and very few people would be coming in and pretty much all of them were regulars that knew to find him in the kitchen if there was no one out front. In fact, he couldn’t help hoping that someone would come to the back, so that he would have an excuse to go back to work and chase his father away and send Ziva out to waitress.

Of course, it was Gibbs who poked his nose into the back to investigate the yelling and lack of people up front to handle service. Tony badly wanted to bury his forehead in his hand, but he didn’t. 

“What’s going on here?” Gibbs demanded.

“None of your business.” Ziva sneered. 

“Ziva,” Tony snapped, “ be nice to our customers.”

Senior glared at Tony, before turning to Gibbs, “My son refuses to marry Ziva to save my life.”

“If you would explain how my marrying her would save your life maybe we could figure out an alternative solution.” Tony sighed, the long suffering sigh of one who has been dealing with this insanity for too long.

”Stop. Explain.” Gibbs took charge automatically, an air about him of one used to people following his orders.

“They want me to marry Ziva. I told them, no, as I’m not interested in her, but they won’t drop it. Supposedly my father’s life hangs in the balance somehow, but he won’t explain why and Ziva refuses to believe that I’m not interested in her.”

Gibbs nodded shortly, before turning to Senior, “Explain.”

Senior tried to prevaricate at first and pass it off as a private matter, but finally Gibbs’ glare got through to him and he started spilling his guts. Tony’s eyes grew wider and wider as his father spilled some tale about Ziva’s father being a casino boss and Senior owing the casino a bunch of money from gambling debts. Apparently, Ziva had come to an agreement with her father and Senior that if Tony married her that Eli would write off Senior’s debts as a wedding present to them.

If this didn’t happen, there was a good chance that Senior would end up an example of what happened to those who racked up debt and couldn’t pay or refused to pay. Tony had known his father was a wastrel, but this took the cake. Why did this all have to come out in front of Gibbs? There’s no way the guy would want a relationship with him now. 

“How much money do you owe?” Tony prompted, hoping that he could just pay it off and be done with this. He’d never be happy married to Ziva and he knew she wouldn’t be happy with him either despite her belief that they were a good match and that he secretly wanted her.

When his father named a mind boggling amount that there was no way Tony could come up with in a year let alone in time to pay off his father’s debt, Tony knew he was doomed. Much as he hated the thought of marrying Ziva and disliked his father’s wasteful ways he didn’t actually want his father dead. Gearing up to say I’ll do it, Tony was shocked at what came out of Gibbs’ mouth, “Tony will be marrying me. He can’t marry Ziva.”

Tony’s eyes grew wide and round and he turned from Ziva and his father to stare at Gibbs, gobsmacked, “I’m what, now?”

Gibbs just stepped over to Tony and wrapped his arm around him. “We can discuss this after we figure out how to protect your father without you marrying Ziva.”

Tony glared at Gibbs. He badly wanted to retort, “No we’ll discuss this now”, but was too shocked to utter anything. 

“What you need is some dirt on David to convince him to reduce your debt to something reasonable to pay,” Gibbs continued as he faced Senior with his arm wrapped around his son.

“I knew I should have chased you out of this diner when I first saw you.” Senior grumbled, “ Why can’t you mind your own business?”

“Tony is my business.” 

“Gibbs,” Tony whispered. 

He’d never seen this side of Gibbs before. Where had this come from? The declarations, the strength of will, it was a completely different side to the stoic, but gentle man he knew. 

After a battle of wills between Senior and Gibbs, it was Senior who backed down. Tony hadn’t seen many people cow Senior quite so thoroughly with just a glare. He was even more impressed with Gibbs now.

“What exactly do you suggest? It's not like he'll just hand over blackmail material.”

“No, but I'm pretty sure his daughter has some or she'd already be married to the male of choice her family selected for her. Isn't that right, Ziva?”

Ziva crossed her arms and glared at Gibbs, “Hmph.” 

“Really, Gibbs. It's fine. I'll just marry Ziva and it will fix everything.”

“It's not fine.” Gibbs turned his glare on Tony, but Tony wasn't about to back down. This was his family's problem not Gibbs. 

“It's a waste of your talents if you marry her and I. DON’T. WASTE. GOOD.” Gibbs voice grew stronger and more menacing with each of the last four words he uttered.

Senior gulped, seeming to shrink before Tony’s eyes as he tried to stay out of Gibbs’ way. Ziva wasn’t impressed in the slightest. Tony couldn’t help the warm sensation that filled his chest knowing Gibbs cared that much for him.

Gibbs turned his rather impressive glare on Ziva. She didn’t cave like Senior had and start babbling, but eventually she did submit almost meekly to Gibbs’ will. “I will tell you what I know, but you must promise me something.”

“You are not in a position to ask anything of us.” Gibbs growled, “This is a mess of your own making.”

“If you had stood up to your father when you first found out, none of this would have happened. Speak.”

Tony wondered how Gibbs knew all of this. He seemed to know a lot more than a simple boat builder should. Apparently, there were more depths to Gibbs than he’d realized. 

“It is a small thing. I simply wish for your help in separating from my family.”

“You will always be welcome here, Ziva,” Tony offered softly, glaring at Gibbs as if daring him to contradict Tony.

Gibbs simply nodded in agreement. 

“I need more than that. I need my father to agree that I will not be forced to marry. I do not need a spouse.”

Gibbs exchanged a glance with Tony. “You will come with us when we face your father then.”

Ziva nodded.

“We will see what can be done once we are there. No promises that what you want can be achieved. First and foremost we are after my father’s freedom,” Tony pointed out.

Ziva glared, but at Gibbs’ return glare she simply nodded.

“Now, what do you know?” Gibbs ordered.

“There is a trick my father uses so that he never has to pay out big sums. The more you win, the more attention you gather. He will use everything he has to convince you to play for higher and higher stakes, but at his games. Games that are carefully rigged to give only the outcomes he wants. It is impossible to win at these rigged games.”

“Then that’s what we’ll do. If we win back my father’s money fair and square using his own rigged games there will be nothing he can do about it.”

“You can not win. It is impossible.” Ziva protested.

“Nothing is impossible, Ziva. Now, will you help us?”

“What can I do?”

“You know the most about these rigged games. How are they rigged? What kind of games are they? We will have to be careful to successfully lure your father into our trap.”

Ziva glanced between Gibbs, whose expression was like stone, and Tony, whose expression was like a hyper child and frowned before shrugging, “You will need me to pull this off. I will help you.”

“Woo!” Tony whooped happily, before turning to Senior and Ziva, “Now, both of you out of here. I need to have a word with my fiance.” Tony turned to glare at Gibbs, “We’ll finish planning this later after we’ve all had more time to think it over.”

Senior and Ziva agreed and quickly left.

Gibbs just stood there silently and finally Tony couldn’t take it anymore, “What is the meaning of this?” he yelled.

Gibbs still said nothing. 

Tony stared at him for a long time before getting right up into his personal space and poking Gibbs in the chest with his finger. “Is this how it’s going to be? You make demands and orders and I’m just expected to go along with it?”

Gibbs blinked. “No, Tony, of course not.”

“Then talk to me. Why the sudden announcement?”

“I got tired of waiting for you to make a move and the idea of you marrying Ziva… Well I just couldn’t stand it. I had to do something about it.”

“So you just announced that we were going to marry?”

Gibbs shrugged. “I didn’t know what else to do.”

Tony shook his head. “I’ll let you off this time because the situation is beyond weird, but if we’re going to marry I expect a proper proposal.”

Gibbs smiled, “Of course.”

Tony shook his head. That was way too easy. “Do you really think we can do this?”

“Of course.”

“I meant freeing my father.”

“I did too.” Gibbs smirked. “What will you do once he’s free? Senior will keep getting into worse and worse straits if he never learns his lesson.”

“I know, but what can I do? He’s my father.”

“Only you can decide that, Tony. I’ll stand behind whatever decision you make.”

“Even if I let him continue as he is now?”

“It’s your choice.”

Tony hummed noncommittally. He didn’t know what to think about this new side of Gibbs. Well, he didn’t have to make any decisions now.

He would let this thing with his father play out and then he would figure out what to do about Gibbs. He still wanted to hire another cook, now, more than ever.

”Apologies for dragging you into my family drama.” Tony turned around to the stove, ready to get back to work.

“Never say you’re sorry. It’s a sign of weakness. I’m right where I want to be.”

Tony frowned. Being sorry wasn’t a sign of weakness in his book, but he didn’t want to get into it with Gibbs, right now. Instead, he wanted to pretend like everything was normal for a few more hours.

“Shoo. I’m cooking.” Tony waved his hand lazily in the direction of the door. 

“As you wish.”

“Did you just quote Princess Bride to me?” Tony grinned happily at Gibbs.

Gibbs just smiled and returned to the front room and his normal table.

Tony knew there was a lot more that he still needed to learn about Gibbs, but for now they had a plan and Gibbs didn’t seem the kind to run away, so things were looking up as far as Tony was concerned. Though, he couldn’t help wondering how many other sides Gibbs had that Tony hadn’t seen. He was still mystified as to how Gibbs knew as much as he did about the Ziva situation. 

Was there more going on that Gibbs wasn’t telling them? Tony put that thought aside and turned to flipping the cowboy steak he was making for Gibbs. It would soon be dinner rush. 

He needed to focus on the food, not on the distracting thoughts of Gibbs and what lay under his skin. Then afterwards, they would decide how to handle Eli David. He wondered if he could find a cook to keep the place running while they hatched their plan against David. 

Maybe the others would have a suggestion. He would bring it up during their planning session. Tony plated the steak and grabbed a mug of tar for Gibbs.

Tony dropped the steak and tar off at Gibbs’ table and looked around to see what other customers they had. Ziva was just seating another customer and his father had vanished to who knew where. Nodding in satisfaction, Tony returned to the kitchen and continued to push food out through dinner service.

As they closed the restaurant up for the night, Gibbs, Senior, and Ziva all gathered in the kitchen with Tony to discuss plans. Tony, needing something to do with his hands, made drinks for everyone, tar for Gibbs, hot chocolate for himself and normal coffee for Senior and Ziva. Ziva and Gibbs immediately started planning with Senior listening in and offering what suggestions he could. 

Tony just listened for now. As he handed out drinks, he mentioned, “I really need a cook to cover for me while we do this operation.”

“Leave it to me. I know someone who could cover for you,” Gibbs offered.

“I’ll have to test him myself to make sure he can handle it.”

“Of course,” Gibbs agreed with a dip of his head.

They hammered out the rest of the details, which included Ziva pretending to reconcile with her father and take a job at the casino for a couple of weeks prior to when they would put their final plan into motion. Kate wouldn’t like working the full shift all the time, but she could for a temporary period. She needed the income for the forensic degree she was going to school for.

If Ziva decided to not come back, he would need at least one more waiter or waitress for the front. Maybe Gibbs would have some ideas for that as well. He should probably be disturbed by how easy it was to slot Gibbs into his life.

It was almost like they’d been together as partners for a while now. They just fit. He couldn’t bring himself to be bothered by this, however. 

Gibbs had always been there for Tony. Or at least, it had seemed that way during recent months, so Tony didn’t mind letting him in. Though, really he was a bit surprised by Gibbs announcement. 

He’d always expected Gibbs to not want anything to do with Tony because of Senior. He’d never met anyone who would put up with Senior for him before. Here, not only was Gibbs putting up with Senior, but he was actually trying to help Tony with the problems Senior had brought to his life. 

It didn’t make sense. Could he really trust Gibbs to stick around? Did it matter? Tony couldn’t seem to stop letting Gibbs in.

For this plan, Tony and Gibbs would be going in as a married couple. Eli would recognize Tony, but not Gibbs as Eli had never actually been to the restaurant. The only reason Eli would recognize Tony was because of the background check that Eli had run on Tony when Ziva started working there.

Well actually, Eli wouldn’t recognize Tony either. Not until they’d gotten the proof they needed and revealed themselves. Tony would be wearing a disguise.

He was looking forward to it. It made him feel a bit like Magnum PI that he watched in his childhood. He couldn’t wait.

Gibbs brought Tobias Fornell to the diner the next day. Tony blinked at the rather balding man, who didn’t look at all like a cook. In fact, he looked more like a suit at one of those government agencies. 

Still Tony knew better than to judge a book by his cover and put Fornell through his paces as a cook. Fornell and fancy plating didn’t get along well, but he seemed able to do most everything else. He even made tar almost as good as Tony’s. 

Though with Gibbs involved in the scam they were running, tar probably wouldn’t be needed. Fortunately, Fornell could make normal coffee just fine. Tony agreed to take him on on a probationary period while they worked this thing against Eli David. 

Tony had Fornell run a few services on his own, before he felt comfortable enough leaving him there with Kate to run things. Kate didn’t understand why Tony was doing this, but it was fine. She would hold down the fort regardless.

Ziva had informed them that her father would be suspicious if two men came in, so Tony had ended up in drag. Gibbs was to be their high roller and Tony his good luck charm. Unbeknownst to David, Ziva would be feeding Tony information to convey to Gibbs.

Tony just hoped this would work. Now that the actual day was here, his stomach was acting up with nerves. They bumped into a young man doing security for the casino.

His nametag said McGee. Tony wondered why the guy was working there. He seemed too slim for a normal security guard.

Still aside from pointing out the odd young man, Tony did nothing, simply following Gibbs into the casino. Ziva announced that the guy was a new hire that her father had decided to allow to repay someone else’s debt through this manner. Tony knew there was more to the guy than he was being told, but didn’t worry about it for now.

They needed to focus on winning and playing things such that they gathered Eli’s attention. It really wasn’t hard to win a decent amount at the blackjack tables. Of course, you couldn’t bet the kind of money that would attract Eli’s attentions there. 

One really needed to get involved in the poker tables. That’s where the big money was. They had enough now to join one of the lower ante poker tables. 

So far they hadn’t needed Ziva’s help for which Tony was glad. He wanted to attract Eli’s attention, but not in any suspicious way. It wouldn’t do for it to seem like they were more than a couple on a winning streak. 

Tony hated the high heels he was wearing. He wasn’t used to dressing up as a woman, at all. He had to keep reminding himself to use a higher pitched voice than normal.

At least, it gave him an excuse to be touching Gibbs however he wanted. He still wasn’t sure what to make of Gibbs’ proclamation that they would marry, but he could admit to himself at least that he wouldn’t mind being married to Gibbs. He still wondered about the man that he was thinking to call husband, he seemed to know more about everything than he should.

Even things that he should have no way of knowing, it seemed like Gibbs knew. Yet, he was a down to earth person. Tony didn’t know what to make of it. 

He really didn’t know much about Gibbs’ history. While they’d shared a lot, Tony had never delved into Gibbs’ past. Now, he found himself wanting to know more about Gibbs and his past.

Gibbs had a powerful air about him and many people left the table rather than play against them. Tony couldn’t help a quirk of his lips in amusement at this. He knew Gibbs could be stern, but he wasn’t anything to be afraid of.

Tony knew he was turning heads even dressed as a woman and he couldn’t help the smile that ghosted around the edges of his lips at this. Gibbs growling seemed to increase with every man that stopped and turned to take a second look at Tony. Still the ease with which Gibbs bet hand after hand made Tony realize that Gibbs had done this before.

Oh, he didn’t think Gibbs was a professional gambler by any imagination, but it was clear this wasn’t his first time playing poker. Tony wondered where and when he’d learned to play this well. Mostly, he didn’t even need Tony’s help to keep raking in the chips. 

Or he didn’t until they made it to the second highest ante of the poker tables. That’s when they finally started to hit the real competition and Gibbs started to struggle a bit. Though, Tony still had a sense that Gibbs was bluffing some of his struggle.

Still, he fed Gibbs the info that Ziva gave him. Sometimes Gibbs used it and sometimes he didn’t. They couldn’t look too good or Eli would be suspicious.

Tony could admit to himself, at least, that he enjoyed having an excuse to give Gibbs kisses. It also made it an easy way to pass information as Tony could whisper in Gibbs’ ear under the guise of kissing him. By the time Eli appeared they had racked up a decent amount of winnings. 

He offered them a special chance to triple their winnings, something a real gambler would have trouble passing up. Gibbs and Tony appeared to discuss it for a long time and Eli sweetened the deal offering a guaranteed payout even if they lost. It was no wonder his father had fallen for Eli’s tricks. After a show of hemming and hawing, they finally agreed. 

“Be careful,” Ziva whispered in his ear. 

This was where the real battle began. Would they be able to beat Eli at his own games? Only time would tell.

It started out small. A minor loss here or there, but as time went on the losses for Gibbs just kept increasing. Tony wanted to shout at Ziva and ask her why she wasn’t giving them any information, but that would break their cover.

That’s when Tony noticed that McGee, the security guard, had somehow ended up in the room with them. What was going on? Where was Ziva? 

He hadn’t heard anything from Ziva since they entered this room. Had she double crossed them? Was this the end, would they not be able to make Eli pay?

“Stop worrying,” Gibbs whispered. 

This wasn’t even the crappy win ratio of slot machines. How could Gibbs be so calm? Tony hadn’t figured out how Eli had rigged this two man tournament, but he was sure he had. 

McGee fidgeted and Tony glanced at him. Really, he shouldn’t be a security guard. He stood out too much.

They didn’t have a backup plan for losing contact with Ziva. Gibbs slid his hand slowly up and down Tony’s side as he dragged Tony in for a kiss. “Seriously, calm down,” Gibbs murmured again.

Tony looked Gibbs in the eye as he settled back in his chair and he understood then that Gibbs had expected this in some manner. He must have made a plan to handle this without discussing it with Tony. Tony still wondered about how Gibbs knew so much, but in this instance he was content to trust Gibbs to handle it. 

He just had to play the part of the loving and lucky charm wife. Still it sucked watching Gibbs lose more and more of their winnings. Not that Tony cared about the money, but he didn’t see how losing like his father had would help them free his father from his debt.

Gibbs interrupted Tony’s train of thought with a demand that the security guard join them. Shooting Gibbs a look, Tony couldn’t help wondering what Gibbs was up to. Had he worked something with the security guard already?

Gibbs gestured towards the security guard meaningfully, but Tony had no idea what Gibbs was trying to tell him. Tony just look at Gibbs blankly. Gibbs pulled Tony in for another kiss and muttered, “Start a conversation with the security guard and see if you can draw Eli into it.”

Tony wasn’t sure what Gibbs was going for, but he’d always been able to talk. It’s part of what made him a good diner owner. Taking a deep breath, Tony started up what was bound to be a rather banal conversation.

McGee surprised him, however, and soon they were deep in discussion about Dr. Who. Alas, he couldn’t keep the conversation on safe topics. Not if he wanted to draw Eli into it at any rate.

Tony was surprised how easy it was to draw Eli into conversation. Not only was it a simple thing once he directed the conversation to topics Eli would have some experience with, but Eli also dropped a considerable amount of information via casual conversation. Tony wondered if Eli even realized he was doing so. 

Without even trying, Tony had managed to get the information they needed out of Eli through simple conversation. In fact, Tony hadn’t even realized what he’d done before both McGee and Gibbs were acting to threaten Eli.

Tony glanced at the chips by Gibbs and noticed that they had grown considerably while he was distracted hitting McGee and Eli up with conversation. Eli had very little chips left now despite his tricks to determine what cards other players had as well as a few cards he used to give himself better hands. Eli glared at all 3 of them when he realized how they’d played him. 

Really, Tony was disappointed. He’d thought a casino boss would be harder to trick than this. Of course, the joke was really on them as Ziva stormed into the room waving a gun around wildly.

”Now, listen here. You’re going to release me from all family duties starting now.” Ziva pointed the gun at Eli, but her eyes darted around the room to the others as well.

“Ziva, what are you doing?” Tony protested, surprised by how crazy she was acting.

“Ziva, darling, calm down. Surely, we can talk about this,” Eli attempted in a placating voice.

“No. The time for talking is over.” Ziva glared, “Also, Tony is going to marry me and none of you will stop me.”

“What the fuck?” Tony retorted eloquently, completely taken aback. 

“Over my dead body.” Gibbs snarled, grabbing Tony and shoving him behind him.

“It would be my pleasure,” Ziva smiled sweetly, switching her aim from her father to Gibbs.

McGee took advantage of her obsession to tackle her to the ground and knock the gun out of her hand. Gibbs grabbed the gun before Ziva could gather it back up. That didn’t stop Ziva from knocking McGee onto his ass on the ground as she broke his hold.

“Would someone please explain what’s going on and why everyone has lost their minds?” Tony whined.

”We’re meant to be together. No one can keep us apart.” Ziva insisted.

“Ziva, I am not interested in you. Why can’t you get that through your brain?”

“Stop playing coy. I know you want me.”

Tony rolled his eyes, “No, I really don’t. On top of that there is no way that we would survive a relationship together. We’d kill each other in under a week.”

“I refuse to marry anyone else.”

“Ok, Ziva. Clearly, the pressure has gone to your head. You won’t have to marry anyone I promise. Now, just settle down and we’ll deal with your behavior after I deal with these other misfits.” Eli consoled.

“We are not mere bugs that you can brush away, David,” Gibbs growled, “You will release Senior from his debts or you won’t like the consequences.”

“Just what are you going to do to stop me, hearsay isn’t worth much.”

“Don’t need hearsay. McGee caught you on tape. We have it all loud and clear. So unless you want to find yourself destitute and sharing a jail cell with other unsavories, you’ll let Senior go and wipe out McGee’s father’s debt as well.”

“This isn’t the end of this.” Eli’s eyes narrowed at Gibbs.

“Don’t even think about it. Tony will be under my protection. If you harm even a hair on his head, I’ll make sure the tape is released to the appropriate authorities.”

Eli snarled. “Fine. Their debts are erased, but I’m taking it out of your winnings, so you’re not getting a penny.”

Gibbs shrugged, tilting his head towards McGee and then the door as he calmly walked Tony out. McGee started babbling the minute they were out of the casino. “That was so awesome. I can’t believe we just got away with that.”

Tony shook his head at Tim’s naivete. He knew this wasn’t over by a long shot and he wasn’t just talking about the David situation. He still had his father to deal with, after all.

He couldn’t help thinking about Ziva as Gibbs drove them back to the diner. She’d only been at the casino for two weeks. What could have happened there to have made her go off the deep end? 

Was even the mere proximity to her father enough to drive her crazy? He would have stated with a certainty before this that she wasn’t in love with him. For her to behave so obsessively about him blew his mind.

He never expected it. Had he really been such a bad judge of her character? Or had there really been something at the casino that had driven her over the edge?

Tony knew he would probably never know. Unfortunately, regardless he’d have to figure out whether he was willing to let her come back to work at the diner or not. Honestly after the behavior she displayed today, he wasn’t sure he wanted her working for him anymore.

On the other hand it seemed kind of a dick move to force her to work for her dad when they clearly had issues. It wasn’t until they arrived at the diner that Gibbs turned to Tony and interrupting his thoughts about Ziva prodded, “You know, you could do worse than McGee as a server.”

Tony considered. The man clearly could come in handy. “I’ll think about it.”

“That’s all I ask.”

Tony stopped in the doorway to his kitchen. “What the hell happened here?” Tony gasped, staring aghast at the destruction that greeted him.

“Oh, sorry. Sorry. I’ll get this cleaned up, right away.” Fornell bustled in and immediately started cleaning up. “I didn’t realize you’d be back so soon.”

Tony rubbed his hand down his face in exasperation. “Do I even want to know what happened while I was gone?”

”Nothing happened. I had it all under control.”

“This is not under control.”

Fornell just shrugged. “Sorry. I really thought I’d get it cleaned up before you got back.”

Tony shook his head. “I can’t deal with this, right now. It better be spotless by the time morning rolls around.”

“It will be. You can count on me, DiNoetzo.”

Tony closed his eyes to hide his frustration before turning to Gibbs. “Let’s go to your place.” Tony lived above the diner and that was a little too close to this mess for his comfort.

Gibbs nodded and led the way back to his truck. “Pizza?”

“Sure. Pepperoni, Sausage, and Extra Cheese?”

“You got it.”

The next day Tony phoned McGee, after getting the number from Gibbs, to see if he would be interested in taking a job waiting tables at his diner. McGee agreed. Now, Tony just had to find a better temporary cook. 

Fortunately, Gibbs heard Leon Vance was looking for work now that he was a family man. Tony called the man up and invited him to come in for an in person trial interview. Tony would be there to see how he handled the kitchen as well as make sure his quality was where he wanted it to be.

On the day of the interview, Tony arrived early to get the place opened up. He wanted to get the breakfast prep out of the way, so that things would go smoothly when Leon arrived. He wanted to focus most of his attention on watching Leon rather than worrying about dinner prep or any of the other things he usually had to do. 

Of course, on the one day he wanted things to go smoothly they ended up with an impromptu kids’ birthday party that started right before Leon arrived. Leon took it in stride, though, jumping in immediately to help with the mini-sliders that Tony was making for the kids. With Leon’s help he was able to get the mini-sliders and an enormous amount of fries delivered to the birthday party before they had a mess of screaming kids on their hands.

Tony breathed a sigh of relief after the kids finally left, “Sorry about that. It was last minute.”

“It happens. Clean up, now?’

“Clean up whenever you have a chance. This is already messier than I prefer, but what can you do when you’re rushed.” Tony shrugged already picking up dishes and taking them to the sink.

“A man after my own heart. I hate a dirty kitchen and my wife would kill me if she found out I let a kitchen get too dirty.” Leon pitched in starting to wash the dishes as Tony brought them over, so that they could work together to put them away after they were sanitized.

Once the dishes were put away and things in the front room handled, Tony turned to Leon. “You ready for your real interview?”

Leon nodded. “What do you need me to do?”

Tony ran Leon through a bunch of easy dishes at first. He skipped over hamburgers as the sliders already showed that Leon knew how to handle his meat, but homemade salad dressing, salad and a good steak were just the start. Tony couldn’t believe how well Leon was doing. 

He’d practically breezed through the easy ones and even the medium difficulty dishes. By this point in time Fornell would have been sweating and a complete disaster, but Leon’s area was absolutely spotless. Tony already knew he was going to hire Leon, but he threw a couple of the really fancy and hard dishes that he rarely made at Leon just to see how he handled them.

Tony’s mouth hung up at the absolutely perfectly decorated sashimi and the amazing duck confit. If Tony wanted to retire, he would absolutely hand the restaurant over to Leon and know that it was in good hands for now, though he just held his hand out to Leon to shake.

“You’re hired. When can you start?”

“Monday.”

“Great. See you then. We can work out schedules and everything else on Monday.”

Tony continued to be happy with Leon. He’d even left the man to handle the restaurant as the only chef for a week and had heard only good things when he returned. There’d been no sign of disaster in the kitchen either.

Tony was loving it. It meant that he could hang out with Gibbs more frequently without worrying. He still loved cooking and Vance’s kids were really cool when they came to the restaurant after school to hang out. They usually had school work to do, but sometimes they would play games and if he had time Tony would join their games if he could.

It had really started to feel like a family business, especially with Vance’s kids there on a regular basis. Kate kept asking him when Gibbs and him were going to add kids of their own. Tony teased her about her various boyfriends and her being the one to add kids to their little family first.

It really was a family. Everyone cared about everyone else. They may bicker like siblings, but they were there for each other no matter what.

Even Ziva, who had come back after she’d gotten her head on straight, felt like family as she continued to work up front for tips. He still had the occasional flare up with Ziva even though Gibbs and him were definitely together now, though not married, yet. It wasn’t bad though. She didn’t push like she had when Senior came around.

Tony hadn’t seen Senior in years. It probably had something to do with him telling the guy off and informing him that he wouldn’t clean up his messes anymore and that if he got himself into more trouble he’d have to fix it without Tony’s help. The mess with Eli had just been too much for Tony and he wasn’t willing to chance going through that again.

He had a sneaking suspicion that Gibbs was doing something to keep his father out of his hair, but he could never find any proof. Gibbs could be a sneaky bastard when he wanted to, as proven by Gibbs having a cop “arrest” Tony, Fornell of all people, only for the handcuffs to be an engagement ring. Gibbs had apologized and proposed all at the same time.

Once Tony had gotten over his shock, he’d had no other choice than to accept though he’d held out for a while just to make Gibbs sweat. It wasn’t the most romantic proposal, but it worked for them. Their wedding would eventually be held at the diner because neither of them could imagine having the wedding without their family.

**Author's Note:**

> Hopefully, I'm back and will be able to keep up posting through end of December. Down to 1 story written for the dictionary.com series.
> 
> My 2018 Prompt collection is open [here](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/cutsycat_NCIS_Prompts_2018/profile). Just click the sign up link. ;) It will remain open until the beginning of 2019. I'm hoping to complete all the 2018 prompts by the end of 2019. Here's hoping muse cooperates.
> 
> If you are not an ao3 member, you can prompt me [here](http://cutsycat.livejournal.com/50701.html). Please follow the same rules as are listed in the above link. However, because this is a handmade prompt form(that thinks it's a poll), it is considerably more limited than what ao3 provides, so please use the ao3 form if you're an ao3 member. Please note the name option is for a name that I can say this is for so that you know it's for you. Since this is for non ao3 members it won't be true gifts, but you will be mentioned in the notes.
> 
> For any authors that want to chat and/or are looking for a place where they can toss plot ideas around and get input from people, you can come join my discord server that is specifically geared towards writing/encouraging people to write and authors. The invite link is [here](https://discord.gg/HFvwpCq). If you're not an author, but want to chat with me about writing/stories or anything else you are welcome to join. I reserve the right to boot you from my server if all you do is pester me about updates, however. *grin* Really anyone who wants to talk about writing and/or plot ideas for various stories is welcome to join. 
> 
> I've started a new [poll](https://cutsycat.livejournal.com/55450.html) regarding my series and which ones people most want to see continued in place of the Rapprochement series which I have brought to an end for now... 
> 
> Note: The Bishop Entanglement, Crazy Cat Tale, and Pregnant FBI Agent series will be continued no matter what, so you don't need to vote for those. For those who don't have livejournals just leave a comment with your responses. Thanks!
> 
> Also, I'm looking for some writing buddies. Full details are [here](https://cutsycat.livejournal.com/53610.html). It is friends locked, so you'll have to add me as a friend on lj before you can read it.
> 
> Also, Drakonyashka has translated a couple of my works into Russian. [Tutelage](http://archiveofourown.org/works/12378780) and [Imbue](http://archiveofourown.org/works/12378840). Go support them. 


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